Arumika Week 2014
by EowynAhsokaLover
Summary: A collection of drabbles and one-shots written for Tumblr's 2014 Arumika week.
1. Chapter 1: Snowed In

June 22 – Childhood/Past

Armin could write poetry about his childhood: green grass and bright sun and brilliant smile and that one looming secret that no one knew that endangered everyone. He remembered an eternal summer, always hot and always sunny. It was never cold. Not like this.

They were trapped in a cave. They'd been riding back to Wall Rose when a blizzard hit and Levi had led them to an outcropping of rock, seeking a cave's shelter. Now they were snowed in. Armin, Eren, and Mikasa were huddled together for warmth while Levi sat a little away, unmovable. They watched with the fascination he commanded from even those who hated him.

Armin had one memory of snow before Wall Maria's fall. It was a freak snowstorm that had brought the town to halt for days, even though the snow only covered a couple inches of ground. The three of them had had fun snow fights—Mikasa always winning—and Armin had made beautiful snow angels. It had snowed more when they moved further north past Wall Rose.

"Isn't he cold?" Eren asked quietly.

"Eren," Mikasa whispered, "don't worry yourself about him."

"But he must be cold," he insisted, a little louder, "and Mikasa, he does matter. He's our commanding officer."

"I'm not cold," Levi said, loudly enough that his voice bounced around the cave. Armin put his hands over his ears.

"Armin," she asked, "Are you okay?"

She had asked that a lot during his childhood, after Eren had tried to beat up his bullies and Mikasa had cleaned up after her brother. He had always said _fine_ in a little voice that was most certainly not fine. His voice had deepened a little now, though not as deep as Eren's and nowhere near as deep as Levi's, but enough that he wouldn't get teased for sounding like a girl.

"I'm a little cold. But we all are."

She reached out and grabbed his hand, rubbing her finger over its back. "We'll be okay. If we're stuck here too long, we can eat Levi."

Eren made a choking noise.

Armin smiled and dared "But Mikasa, he's too small to have much meat on him."

Mikasa smiled and Armin felt a little warmer.


	2. Chapter 2: Kisses

**June 24- Secrets/Confession**

Armin jolted awake. He looked around the tent. The two other boys in there with him—Eren and Connie—were soundly asleep, and probably drooling, although Armin felt no desire to find out. He lay back down on his sleeping bag and closed his eyes. They flicked back open. He forced them closed and tried to relax, but it was slightly chilly and there was an owl hooting in the distance and one of the other boys started to snore.

Armin sat up. He wouldn't be able to get back to sleep, no matter how hard he tried. He grabbed his quilt and crawled out of bed and out of the tent as quietly as he could.

Outside, he rose and stretched. Dawn wasn't too far away; there was no sun yet, but the eastern sky was noticeably lighter than black night. He tried to rub his chill bumps away, but gave up and wrapped the patched quilt around him as if it were a king's cloak.

He walked across camp, nodding to that shift's sentry, over to the stream they'd camped by. The stream, weakened by that year's drought, was not much more than a trickle. He knelt down by the water, the corners of the quilt falling into the stream, and splashed his face with a handful of water, bringing himself fully into the land of the living.

Suddenly, he heard a rustle of bushes and a gasp that was not quiet enough to be deafened by the water. His mind, infected by the teenage boys he lived with, went immediately to the gutter, although Armin's instinct was to leave. Fast. Without looking. After all, this person clearly sought privacy, and he didn't really have much desire to intrude.

Then he heard his name.

Which was shocking. Because, while Armin could theoretically imagine someone loving him, he was not someone who teenagers would lust over. At least, he hoped they were a teenager. If they weren't...

Black hair, swords, and the smell of anise flashed through his head before he grabbed the dream and squashed it like a bug. That was impossible. After all, with the Survey Corp's track record, they'd be a guy.

Which would be okay. There were certainly guys he found attractive. Jean would probably be the best one; he was nice to Armin, even if he was a jerk to Eren. But Jean preferred people with black hair and names that began with 'M'. Armin was pretty sure if just the two of them were drunk together, he would admit that was something they had in common.

The gasp came again and Armin really couldn't resist it any longer. He crept towards the grove of trees the sounds were coming from and, reaching it, peaked through the bushes.

They were a girl. A girl leaning against a tree with her pants and underwear around her knees, one hand at her crotch and one hand lost somewhere up her shirt. A girl with pale skin and small open mouth and a little nose and hair black as coals.

Mikasa eyes opened lazily, like a sleepy cat, but she looked at nothing in particular, too busy with her ministrations. Nothing in particular until she caught sight of familiar blue eyes. "Armin?" she said, voice hazy with pleasure. She blinked, and suddenly her eyes were sharp blades and she froze, stock still. "Armin." Her voice was filled with a mix of emotions, but mostly horror and apology.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

Mikasa heard the bushes as he turned around to leave. "No! Armin wait!" She rushed toward him and tripped over her pants.

Armin heard the thump of Mikasa landing on the ground. He turned back and rushed through the bushes. "Mikasa! Are you okay?" He helped her up. "Are you sure you're okay? This isn't like you. You're not clumsy like this. You—"

"Armin."

He fell silent, realizing he'd been babbling. Then, he realized that somehow, his hand was cupping her cheek and that his other was resting at her waist.

"Armin."

"Yeah?" His voice cracked.

"Kiss me."

He was still. Then, after a moment, he nodded. He closed his eyes and kissed her, gently and sweetly, but very much there. She tasted like lip, but smelled like anise and rain and clover. He opened his eyes and smiled at her. She smiled back.

"Again."

He kissed her again, but she deepened it and led him over to her erstwhile abandoned tree. She broke the kiss and grabbed his hands, his fingers, with her own. "You are going to finish what you interrupted," she said wickedly, her cheeks tinted pink.

His blush echoed hers. "Um, okay."

She squeezed his fingers and led them down to the apex of her legs. When his first finger went in, she made a breathy noise that went straight to his groin, reasserting itself with a vengeance. She rolled her hips and made the breathy noise again and the gears in his head—paralyzed by Mikasa...wordless confession—began to work. He began to move his finger within her, pumping gently, never breaking eye contact with her.

"More," she said and he kissed her again, then doing as she bid and inserting a second finger. As he did, his thumb accidentally rubbed against her clit. She gasped out his name.

"Do you...do you like that?"

She smiled and nodded.

"Should I do it again?"

She opened her mouth to say something, but he rubbed her clit again and it came out as a gasp. They kissed and as she began to roll against him again, he began pumping his fingers again, with the occasional extra stimulation of her clit which sent such delightful shudders through her body.

He added a third finger and not much later, something happened. She went rigid and let out choked screams that Armin guessed would have been much louder if they had the privacy of their own room (he wanted to hear them). She relaxed and smiled. He removed his fingers, slick from her juices, and brought them up to his face. He looked at them for a moment, then closed his eyes and took a long intake of breath, smelling her. He opened his eyes, letting his arm drop to his side, then smiled with childlike joy.

She smiled too, a quiet, sleepy smile that made her look even more like a cat.

Armin looked down at himself and realized just how aroused his body was. "Um...I'm going to need to go and—"

"Don't be silly." He looked up at her overcast eyes and was held there. Then he felt her fingers at his waistband and flushed red.

"Are you okay?"

"It's just...I don't know. Like the spell is broken. Or dream. Is this even real?"

"I hope so."

"Yeah. Me too." They stood still for a moment. "Kiss me."

"Okay." She kissed him and he wrapped his arms around her, tightly. "Are you sure you don't want me to—"

"It's just...That was so wonderful and you always give so much—I mean I can't really even imagine getting—well I can't even imagine besides giving that to you. Um...that doesn't make sense, does it?"

"You're very sweet." He flushed. "I think I understand. But you can be selfish. You can want."

"I...I do. Just, I felt the moment passed."

"Okay. The moment passed."

"Thanks." He smiled.

She smiled too. "We clean up and get back."

"Yeah."

She pulled up her pants very businesslike, as if she had not been in the throes of passion minutes before, walked over to him, and began brushing leaves off him. He did the same to her.

They kissed once more before they left the grove of trees. "I like kissing you," he said.

"I like it too." She grabbed his hand and held it as they walked back to camp.

Armin felt someone's eyes on the back of his head. He looked around, nervous, but it was too dark to see beyond his lamplight's two yard radius. He slid into an alley between two houses, an alley that was barely wide enough for him to walk through.

* * *

**A/N****: **If you people like this, check out my tumblr (knightswhosay dot tumblr dot com OR knightswhosayfanfic dot tumblr dot com). And reviews are nice of course.


	3. Chapter 3: Absolution

**June 25 - Blood/Weakness**

The horses nickered quietly. Armin sneezed. It was hot and the beginning of summer and a breeze was nowhere to be found. The air, he observed, was stagnant, like the ponds that bore mosquitoes. He gave a final pat to his horse—her name was Rán after one of the ancient goddesses of the sea—before leaving the stable's shady sanctuary. He immeadiately regretted it, as the sun had not become any more merciful in the hour he had spent tending to the horses.

He wondered where Mikasa was. He hoped she had joined Eren lazying under a great tree, sun hat granting her even more protection from the sun, but it was more likely that she was practising with Levi or at least doing chores like him.

He began to walk back to camp, but a voice stopped him.

"Armin!" It was Sasha, her grin wide and forehead glistening in sweat. "Boy, am I glad to see you." She was wobbling toward him, holding a large basket of clean linens and uniforms. She set it down in front of him. "Would you mind taking this back to Captain Levi for me? I still have two more to carry." She gestured vaguely toward where Armin knew the clotheslines were.

"Yes. Of course."

"Thanks a bunch." Sasha wiped her forehead with the back of her hand, then left, leaving the basket with Armin.

He heaved. It was heavy. Sasha was better suited to carrying the baskets than him, which was why, he guessed, he rarely got laundry duty. He began wobbling to camp.

* * *

"Captain." He dropped the laundry basket down in front of Levi.

"Yes?" Levi looked away from reports. "What is it, Arlert?"

"Sasha asked me to bring to you."

"Braus is on laundry duty?"

"Yes sir. I finished my task and was passing by and decided to help."

"So you can carry one of those baskets after all."

Armin still had trouble comprehending Levi's emotions, but he thought that particular inflection indicated surprise. He flushed. "With all due respect sir, I'm not twelve anymore."

Levi looked at him, quick and calculating. "No I suppose you're not." He turned back to his papers.

"Um sir?"

"What is it?"

"Do you know where Mikasa is?"

"Ackerman? Why?"

"I'm surprised she isn't training with you, sir."

"I've got better things to do than spend all day training brats."

"Then where is she?"

"She's out hunting. Kirstein was supposed to do it, but last time he went hunting we went hungry, so I sent her instead." He glanced at Armin. "If you're done with your chores, you can go join her."

"Yes sir."

* * *

Armin went up to his room to grab his crossbow. (The Survey Corps did not have enough budget to give each soldier a gun in addition to their 3D maneuvering gear, so each soldier received a small crossbow as their long range weapon instead. It wasn't a bad deal; the crossbows were more reliable than all except the newest gun models and had a little better accuracy when it came to long range targets.) He changed into darker clothes as well, to better blend in with the trees, before he left camp for the nearby forest.

The summer stillness was almost eerie under the trees. It was very quiet and Armin was sure that, had it been fall and the ground been covered in dead leaves, he would have waken every single living thing in the forest. As it was, he nearly jumped every time the tree branches rubbed together. At least, he thought, it was a little cooler.

Ten minutes into the forest, he hit the stream. He knew from training that animals often gathered near water and guessed that Mikasa would be hunting near the perimeter of the stream. He began to walk south along the stream.

He managed to shoot and kill several fish, all Bass—the fish his grandfather used to bring home—and had become more and more tempted to take off his heavy boots and socks and just wade down the stream. He had already taken one off when he heard a whizzing noise over the stream's quiet burble and quickly pulled the boot back on. He heard a quiet choked noise, the kind that spoke more misery than sobs, and followed it to its source.

Mikasa was kneeling down at the side of a dead fox. Armin watched the small stream of blood flow out of the arrow wound and across the fox's fur, matting the bright orange, until the blood stopped.

"Mikasa?" He didn't know why she was so upset—she had killed many animals, experienced the kill-or-be-killed worldview numerous times, finding someway to accept it—but she was clearly upset.

"Armin?" She looked up at him, eyes wet with unshed tears, then made a decision. She looked away. "Armin, you should go."

"There's clearly something wrong. I'm not going to leave and let you carry...whatever it is by yourself."

"Armin." It was her warning voice, one she usually only used on Eren or, occasionally and insubordinately, Levi.

"Listen, Mikasa. I don't understand people like Eren does, I don't understand how to comfort others. I know that some people need to be left alone when they're upset, but I'm not going to leave you in the middle of a forest crying over a fox's corpse." His voice rose despite himself and he tamped down on it. "Just tell me what is wrong."

She let out a dry sob. "I...I didn't know she was female."

"Female?"

Without looking up from the ground, she pointed over to a hole dug into a tree's massive roots. Armin watched, and, a moment later, saw small furry heads poke out of the hole. "It's a den?"

"It's a den." Mikasa confirmed. "Armin, she was a mother."

Instantly, he understood. He crouched down beside her and hugged her, something he—normally the hugged and not the hugger—did not do lightly. She collapsed into him and he felt the sleeve of his shirt getting increasing wetter. A surge of anger rushed through him; they learned about deer from training, when the does had fawns and when they did not, but training had neglected most other animals.

Time passed and it got incrementally cooler. "Mikasa."

"Hm?"

"We need to go."

She let go of him and suddenly seemed to come back to her senses. "Armin, I'm so sorry I—you didn't need to see that."

"It's fine." He had already stood up and was walking toward the den, holding out one of the fish as bait.

"What are you doing?"

"I thought that maybe, if we could catch them, we could bring them back to camp and give them to one of dogs as some kind of adoptive litter."

"Would it work?"

"I don't know, but similar things have happened before." Just then, the most curious of the kits popped out of the den and rushed towards the fish. Hurriedly, Armin grabbed the kit and placed them in the sack he brought along for caught game. He got a knife out of his pocket and cut off a piece of the bass, dropping it down to the captured kit who made a squeal of victory that summoned the rest of the kits from the den. When they were all secure, he gave the rest of their fish.

Mikasa carried the fox kits back to camp, luminescent with joy.

* * *

**Omake**

While Mikasa was busy introducing the kits to their new mother, Armin reported back to Levi with that day's catch. He laid out before the captain three fish, two hares, and the fox.

"Did you catch all of these yourself, Arlert?"

"No sir. Some of them are Mikasa's."

He inspected each animal, ending with the fox. "It's too bad."

"Sir?"

"The fox is female, Arlert. She probably had kits."

Armin blanched.

"Oh well, it can't be helped. Good job today Arlert."

Armin fled.


	4. Chapter 4: Shirtless

**June 26-****-Jealousy/Conflict**

Armin was working outside. And it was hot. So hot in fact that Armin, modest compared to the other boys his age in the Survey Corps, eventually stripped off his shirt.

It was the very thing that the observing country girls—so excited by the fact that the military would be staying near their little town that they had come to gawk—had been hoping for.

A few of them whistled and more of them giggled and Armin blushed bright scarlet, concentrating on chopping the wood and not on the girls a scant fifty feet away from him.

Mikasa walked out from the castle. Armin did not see her but the girls did and they quieted a little. "Hey," she said, alerting him to her presence before she had to worry about his axe.

"Hey," he answered, putting the axe down. "What's up?"

She moved closer to him, invading his personal space. He blinked. "Do you need my help?"

"No. I think I'm good actually." He smiled.

She got even closer so she could lean her forehead against his. She whispered, "There are a bunch of girls watching you."

"Yeah," he flushed again and looked down, "I know."

She grabbed his chin, gentle but firm, and a gives him a kiss, sweet and lingering. Surprised, his eyes widen. She gave him another.

Then she straightened. "I have to go back to cleaning the kitchen before Levi pops a blood vessel."

Armin, mute, nodded. Mikasa started to cross the yard back to the castle. One of the girls, all of whom had fallen silent, called out, "Does this mean we won't get to see you shirtless too?"

Mikasa turned towards them and grinned.


	5. Chapter 5: The Stuff of Nightmares

**June 27-Clothes/Hair**

Armin remembered his mother's hair. It was long, longer even than Mikasa's before she cut it, and very curly, especially before she combed it. There was no one in the Survey Corps who had really curly hair like his mother, although he knew that both Sasha's and Hanji's hair curled furiously at the ends on rainy days, and neither of them had his mother's coppery hair.

He remembered that his mother didn't like her curly hair—it was too hard for her to style into any of the popular fashions—but when he was little and still found sanctuary from nightmares in his parents' bed, he had loved twisting her hair between his fingers.

His mother would have loved Mikasa's hair, straight as a blade and the color of empty space and soft as rabbit fur. His mother would have loved it, but he did not. Pitch was the color of nightmares, the color of death, the only color inside a titan. And when her hair was cast all about her face while she slept, it looked like tendrils of nightmares creeping toward her.

But he would hold her through her nightmares and when she woke, drenched in sweat, he would change the sheets and braid her hair and she would do the same to his.

* * *

**A/N:** These were all the prompts I completed for arumika week. I hope you enjoyed.


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